Breaking the Barriers - Women and the Elimination of World Poverty (DFID, 1999, 24 p.)

(introduction...)

Women's inequality and world poverty

Poverty and sustainable livelihoods

More power for women

Education and health

Women-friendly infrastructure

Working with international partners

Building capacity and measuring progress

The future

The future

DFID has put a great deal of work into strengthening its support
for gender equality, and significant progress has been made. We recognise,
however, that more remains to be done. Gender equality will remain at the heart
of our policy and implementation work, and provide a focal point in our dialogue
with our partners.

In the next few years, we will focus our efforts on
strengthening operational effectiveness, extending and developing partnerships,
and improving our knowledge. We expect our investment in gender equality to
continue to rise as we further build our support for the attainment of gender
equality as a major goal for the 2Ist Century.

The Department for International Development (DFID) is the
British government department responsible for promoting development and the
reduction of poverty. The government elected in May 1997 increased its
commitment to development by strengthening the department and increasing its
budget.

The policy of the government was set out in the White Paper on
International Development, published in November 1997. The central focus of the
policy is a commitment to the internationally agreed target to halve the
proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, together with the
associated targets including basic health care provision and universal access to
primary education by the same date.

DFID seeks to work in partnership with governments which are
committed to the international targets, and also seeks to work with business,
civil society and the research community to encourage progress which will help
reduce poverty. We also work with multilateral institutions including the World
Bank, United Nations agencies and the European Commission. The bulk of our
assistance is concentrated on the poorest countries in Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa.

We are also contributing to poverty elimination and sustainable
development in middle income countries, and helping the transition countries in
Central and Eastern Europe to try to ensure that the widest number of people
benefit from the process of change.

As well as its headquarters in London and East Kilbride, DFID
has offices in New Delhi, Bangkok, Nairobi, Harare, Pretoria, Dhaka, Kathmandu,
Suva and Bridgetown. In other parts of the world, DFID works through staff based
in British Embassies and High Commissions.